During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.
Observations:
My CT has a demonstrator/personal model teaching style. She involves her students directly in their learning, like a partnership. There is mutual respect in her classroom and students are treated as adults (for the most part) if they act like babies or idiots, she will put them in their place. She does stand out as the teacher, is authoritative when she needs to be and has control of the reins, but she is dedicated to helping and guiding her students to be successful in her classroom. She models the content, showing her students how to do things and then has them take their own lead and take responsibility for doing it themselves, and of course is right there to continue to scaffold the kids, if they need it. Some students take the information and can run with it and other students need more guidance, she is able due to low class numbers, to give more one on one attention to her students and also likes using pair or group activities and matches up different ability levels to have the students that "get it" help those that "don't." In this way the students are able to learn from a different perspective ( another students) and the student that "gets" it is able to reinforce the content for themselves by helping solidify it for their peer. For example, while doing a mapping lab, my CT demonstrated how to do the lab, she took the box, filled it to 1 cm of colored water and drew on the top to begin the topography map. She was clear with her directions, then had each student follow her lead and do the same, fill to the mark then draw on the plastic top. She left me with the kids to monitor them and I took over making sure they were filling correctly, drawing over the box and moving at a good pace so they didn't run out of time. I have seen students come to her for help, for issues relating to school and about sports, the troubles of being in a small school etc. She is not just a teacher, but a mentor, a friend, a confidant, she makes her students feel welcome in her classroom, engages them and makes learning adventurous. She won't just read out of the book and have them memorize, everyday she has something "cool" to do with them so she can keep them on task and wanting to learn. She is pretty good with technology too, so the kids will watch movie clips on the active board and do all sorts of internet related activities which connects with them and makes learning more interesting when it's on their level because today, the internet, movies/music etc is what these kids' lives are based on today.
Reflections:
I feel as though I am more of a demonstrator than an authoritative, facilitator or other type of teaching style. I could be a mix perhaps. I believe that you should nurture positive working relationships with your students. I don't think the classroom should be a strict monarchy, I think students should be actively involved with their learning, want to take risks and have some say in how their classroom works; have choices. The teacher should maintain control for obvious safety purposes, but I believe students should foster discussion with one another to help reinforce concepts and learn from different perspectives. Yes students should have structure in their schedule, but the days activities should be broadcasted on the board so that students know what their class agenda is and then the activities should be different instead of monotonous every day. I want kids out in the field getting dirty, exploring their curiosity and adventurous side, using technology to their fullest potential and learning how to become critical thinkers. They should learn to think outside the box and instead of their being a definite right or wrong answer, I want students to respond to more open ended questions to really get their minds moving. I think formal assessment is important, but I think informal assessment is just as important and self reflection. In today's day, it is very important to have specific skills to enable students to be successful in their careers and I really want to foster those skills in my classroom so students will have the ability to contribute and excel in the workforce.
Class Topic: Mapping Lab/Quiz Grade: 8/10 Observed by: Roberta Closter
Observation/Reflection #3: A Matter of Style
During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.
Observations:
My CT has a demonstrator/personal model teaching style. She involves her students directly in their learning, like a partnership. There is mutual respect in her classroom and students are treated as adults (for the most part) if they act like babies or idiots, she will put them in their place. She does stand out as the teacher, is authoritative when she needs to be and has control of the reins, but she is dedicated to helping and guiding her students to be successful in her classroom. She models the content, showing her students how to do things and then has them take their own lead and take responsibility for doing it themselves, and of course is right there to continue to scaffold the kids, if they need it. Some students take the information and can run with it and other students need more guidance, she is able due to low class numbers, to give more one on one attention to her students and also likes using pair or group activities and matches up different ability levels to have the students that "get it" help those that "don't." In this way the students are able to learn from a different perspective ( another students) and the student that "gets" it is able to reinforce the content for themselves by helping solidify it for their peer. For example, while doing a mapping lab, my CT demonstrated how to do the lab, she took the box, filled it to 1 cm of colored water and drew on the top to begin the topography map. She was clear with her directions, then had each student follow her lead and do the same, fill to the mark then draw on the plastic top. She left me with the kids to monitor them and I took over making sure they were filling correctly, drawing over the box and moving at a good pace so they didn't run out of time. I have seen students come to her for help, for issues relating to school and about sports, the troubles of being in a small school etc. She is not just a teacher, but a mentor, a friend, a confidant, she makes her students feel welcome in her classroom, engages them and makes learning adventurous. She won't just read out of the book and have them memorize, everyday she has something "cool" to do with them so she can keep them on task and wanting to learn. She is pretty good with technology too, so the kids will watch movie clips on the active board and do all sorts of internet related activities which connects with them and makes learning more interesting when it's on their level because today, the internet, movies/music etc is what these kids' lives are based on today.Reflections:
I feel as though I am more of a demonstrator than an authoritative, facilitator or other type of teaching style. I could be a mix perhaps. I believe that you should nurture positive working relationships with your students. I don't think the classroom should be a strict monarchy, I think students should be actively involved with their learning, want to take risks and have some say in how their classroom works; have choices. The teacher should maintain control for obvious safety purposes, but I believe students should foster discussion with one another to help reinforce concepts and learn from different perspectives. Yes students should have structure in their schedule, but the days activities should be broadcasted on the board so that students know what their class agenda is and then the activities should be different instead of monotonous every day. I want kids out in the field getting dirty, exploring their curiosity and adventurous side, using technology to their fullest potential and learning how to become critical thinkers. They should learn to think outside the box and instead of their being a definite right or wrong answer, I want students to respond to more open ended questions to really get their minds moving. I think formal assessment is important, but I think informal assessment is just as important and self reflection. In today's day, it is very important to have specific skills to enable students to be successful in their careers and I really want to foster those skills in my classroom so students will have the ability to contribute and excel in the workforce.Class Topic: Mapping Lab/Quiz
Grade: 8/10
Observed by: Roberta Closter